Next man up: Utah's Deivon Smith is getting his chance — and making the most of it so far

SALT LAKE CITY — Runnin' Utes head coach Craig Smith said he's trying to put his players in the "best positions possible," even though they're running on empty due to injuries.

"We do everything we can (to prevent them)," Smith said Tuesday.

Entering games Thursday (7 p.m. MST, ESPN2) against Oregon State and Sunday against Oregon (1 p.m. MST, ESPN), the Runnin' Utes are mum on the status of forward Lawson Lovering and guard Rollie Worster.

Lovering suffered an injury just three minutes into Sunday's loss at Stanford, while Worster was kept out because of an injury sustained in the final minutes of the win at the Huntsman Center over UCLA last Thursday.

Despite the injuries, though, Smith has been impressed by Georgia Tech transfer guard Deivon Smith, who recorded just the fourth triple-double in team history Sunday. Smith joined former Utah players Alex Jensen, Both Gach, and Olympus High graduate Rylan Jones as the only players to hold the honor.

"There's a lot of things he can do, and I think he's starting to settle in," Craig Smith said.

Deivon Smith showed it Sunday against the Cardinal, as the Runnin' Utes recorded just five turnovers in the game. Craig Smith credited that to Deivon Smith's veteran presence on the floor and the ability to trust him with the ball in his hands.

"He plays with great pace," Smith said. "He's just got to keep getting better."

The senior guard certainly is getting better. After starting the season coming off the bench in nonconference play, Smith recorded a double-double of 11 points and 11 assists in a victory over UCLA, and followed it up by his historic triple-double at Stanford in which he played 32 minutes, the most since arriving in Salt Lake.

Craig Smith said the 11 assists are telling since the Runnin' Utes must go through different players with Worster out of commission.

"You see that Rollie is a stat-stuffer," Smith said. "He's been one assist or rebound shy of a triple-double multiple times."

Worster's contributions were magnified since he and Smith rotated, or even played together at certain junctures, to give the Runnin' Utes an additional point guard on the floor. Craig Smith said Worster is a "stabilizing force," especially on the defensive end as one of the best defenders for the team.

For Utah, though, it's next man up.

"We do a lot of competing in practice," Smith said, speaking to his team's depth that will be tested soon. "Even though they don't have synergy yet with some of the top guys, they're engaged, and that really matters."

That applies to Deivon Smith, as well, whom his coach said his numbers from last season at Georgia Tech "didn't necessarily correlate to what he could become".

"I've said that from the start," Smith said. "I thought he really got better over the last few weeks, and we're going to need that as we progress through Pac-12 play."

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